Chapter Text
I settled into San Francisco more smoothly than I would have believed possible. The city was indeed crawling with monsters, but with my dad and Janet's precautionary efforts, I managed to avoid a good many of them. When I did run into one, my dagger and the bronze-spraying mace canister my dad had given me took care of it. I guess I wasn't doing too badly at surviving out in the real world after all (as long as the monsters weren't of the arachnoid variety).
Janet was as good as her word in enrolling me in an extracurricular architectural programme. On Thursday evenings, I started studying design history at the Architectural Foundation. Between that and school and weekend flying lessons with my dad, I was even busier than I'd been at camp. Before I knew it, the first month in my new home had passed.
Storms continued to brew over the city. They came and went, the squalls like temper tantrums that sent residents running from the hail and sleet. Even when they let up, the dark clouds over Mount Tam never receded. I tried to scout the mountain during my flying lessons, but every time we got close, a violent storm would chase us back to Crissy Field. The weathermen must have been puzzled by the abrupt storms and subsequent fogs that would descend over the city after our attempted recon missions.
It was the same with Berkeley Hills. After we'd faced several weeks of rejection from Mount Tam, I suggested flying out to the east of San Francisco Bay. I wondered if I might spot Luke's ship docked there, but the place was completely shrouded in fog and impossible to navigate. We emerged near San Jose without having seen a single landmark in Berkeley.
When February rolled around, my school organised a field trip to Alcatraz Island for grades six through eight. It was one of the rare clear days between storms. The sun was actually shining down on us as the teachers shepherded us onto the ferry boat at Pier 33. An hour later, we docked on the island. A perky tour guide gave us a general introduction to the island's history, and then the teachers split us into groups and sent us into the dark recesses of the old prison. It had long since been abandoned and converted into a museum, but I guess the curators thought the shadowy, dim atmosphere added a touch of realism to the tour experience.
I peered between the metal bars of the prison cells. Imagining life behind them was depressing. They were mere ten-by-ten foot squares, stacked up floor after floor all the way to the ceiling. Some of them had wax figures inside to depict previous inmates. They were all hunched in miserable-looking balls or lying dejectedly on the wooden beds.
'Fun fact!' said our tour guide, whose cheery demeanour contrasted sharply with the gloomy subject she was expounding on. 'The only successful escape from Alcatraz involved three prisoners who carved likenesses of themselves out of soap wax and tucked them into bed! Then they ran off down a utility corridor!'
We moved on across the prison catwalk. Several cells along, I heard a low, whiny voice that didn't sound like student chatter or a tour guide's spiel.
'This place is crawling with middle-schoolers. If I'd wanted to be surrounded by snot-nosed kids, I'd've stuck with the schoolteacher gig.'
'Shut up,' snapped another voice. 'Why don't you go track down the half-blood? She's definitely in that lot. I'm sick of waiting for Alabaster.'
I froze. The voices were coming from inside the cell. The monsters were probably hiding in there, lying in wait for me. I backed away the way we'd come, slipping among the next group of students following the tour. But the cell block was circular, and the monsters' cell was right next to the only exit. No matter which way I went, I'd pass them at some point.
There was only one thing to do. I slunk behind the bunch of sixth-graders I'd just joined and put on my Yankees cap. Invisible, I trailed behind the final stragglers in the group—a boy who was a head taller than the rest of his classmates and a tiny, dark-haired girl whom he was guiding along.
As we closed in on the cell with the monsters, their argument crept back into hearing range.
'I know the boss isn't too happy with you. Didn't you lose the two half-bloods at that school out east?'
'That wasn't my fault!'
'If you'd just quit your obsession with that cursed necklace—'
My insides turned to ice. Sure enough, inside the monsters' cell, there was a familiar bright flash of orange hair—or fur—inside.
'It's useful,' Kitsune snapped. 'I'd've been Tartarus roadkill without it. And my plan for it would've solved Lord Kronos's invasion problems!'
'Yeah, maybe it would've worked if you hadn't lost it.'
'Why, you—'
'Will you two stop fighting?'
To my shock, it was the too-tall sixth-grader who'd spoken. He glared into the cell and continued, 'I'm doing my best to keep the mortals from noticing us, and you're not helping!'
He turned and I got my first glimpse of his freckled face. It was the half-blood, Torrington, from the Civil War Museum, the same one who'd accompanied Thorn during my kidnapping. Kitsune and the other monster stepped out of the shadows, sliding through the cell bars. The latter was a woman with green eyes that flashed like warning lights and a long snakeskin belt around her waist.
'Get over yourself, brat!' Snakeskin-Belt growled. 'I've controlled the Mist for centuries.'
Torrington ignored her. He was holding the tiny girl tightly by the arm. The rest of our school group moved on, unaware that they'd left anyone behind. I could have slipped past with them, but the scared look on the girl's face made me hesitate. Her eyes were so wide, they looked like a pair of green-tinted moons in her pale, freckled face.
Torrington pushed her towards Kitsune and Snakeskin-Belt. 'You're a child of Hecate, like me. I'm fighting for our mom. Join us, Lou Ellen.'
'I—I don't …' Lou Ellen looked from Torrington to the monster women. 'Who are they?'
'Part of the Titan army,' Torrington said. 'The winning army. Mother told me herself—victory is in the cards. You want to be on the winning team, don't you?'
'If you don't,' Snakeskin-Belt said, 'I never say no to a snack.' She smacked her lips obscenely. 'And you smell … delicious.'
Lou Ellen recoiled. 'You're disgusting!'
Snakeskin-Belt hissed in outrage and reached for Lou Ellen. Torrington inserted himself between them.
'Lamia, stop!' he said. 'She's our sister, too. Besides, remember what Luke said. Kronos wants as many half-bloods on his side as we can get. She's no use to him dead!'
The sound of Luke's name spurred me into action. He was the first half-blood we'd lost to Kronos, and we'd lost enough since then. I wasn't going to let another fall to the wrong side if I could help it.
The modified pepper spray my dad had given me was in my purse. I aimed it at Kitsune, Lamia, and Torrington.
The spurt of celestial bronze mist made the two monster ladies scream. Torrington let go of Lou Ellen to shield his eyes. I didn't know what effect it would have on half-bloods, but I guess pepper spray was still pepper spray. In the confusion, I grabbed Lou Ellen and dragged her down the catwalk, through the exit and into a draughty corridor.
'Ahhhh!' Lou Ellen cried. I wasn't sure if it was because she'd been hit by the spray, too, or if she was just terrified at being dragged away by a ghost. I whipped off my cap, hoping to put her at ease.
'Who are you?" She wrenched herself free of my grip.
'Shh! I'm Annabeth. I'm gonna get you out of here.' Unfortunately, we were on an island, which made opportunities for escape slimmer. But I'd just have to figure it out.
'Are you like Alabaster? Like me? Do you want me to join some army, too?'
'No! I mean, I'm a demigod like you, but I'm trying to save you.'
Lou Ellen narrowed her eyes.
'Look, those monsters want to kill you and me. I know a place you can be safe. You have to trust me. And quickly!'
Footsteps thundered down the catwalk. Kitsune, Lamia, and Alabaster Torrington must have recovered from my assault.
'Okay,' Lou Ellen said. 'How do we get away?'
'Follow me.' I started running in the direction of the prison dining hall, where the tour groups had been headed. We turned a corner and almost mowed down a security guard.
'Sorry!' I gasped. 'We got separated from our class. Do you know—'
The guard grabbed my wrist. His fingers were as cold as the mist over San Francisco. Without stopping to think, I swung my knife into his belly. If he was mortal, it wouldn't hurt him.
The security guard vaporised, but it wasn't like killing a monster. There were no ashy remains, just a single notecard floating to the ground. It had the bright green outline of a man on it.
'Mistform!' Lou Ellen said. 'He—Alabaster—did that. He made people out of cards! He said the weird things I could do were magic, too!'
I didn't have time to ask what weird things she meant. Our run-in with the Mistform had given our pursuers time to catch up. Kitsune was in the lead, a streaking ball of orange fur that resolved into the stern, flame-haired body of my ex-Computer Science teacher.
'You!' she snarled. 'You should be dead!'
'Sorry to burst your bubble,' I said. 'I took care of your stupid necklace, too.'
'How—' Her eyes fell on my dagger and bugged out in apoplectic fury. 'Ismene. Of course …'
Lamia and Torrington came puffing onto the scene.
'Another half-blood!' Lamia shouted in delight. 'Grab your sister, Alabaster. I'll have this one for my snack instead.'
'No you won't,' Kitsune said. 'She owes me a life.'
'No one's eating me,' I snapped. 'I'm inedible. But have you tried the gift shop? You can probably get chocolates there instead. Better for digestion.'
'Don't listen to her,' Kitsune snapped. 'Disarm her!'
Torrington advanced. I raised my dagger, ready to show him just what I could do with it.
Then Lou Ellen flung the fallen guard card at our attackers. She cried out in Latin and the Mistform card grew into a large pink bird with a long pouch under its beak. It squawked at Torrington, Kitsune, and Lamia momentarily stunning them. Lou Ellen and I ran.
'A pelican?' I gasped as we charged towards the dining hall.
'It was the first thing I thought of!' she huffed. 'So what do we do now?'
We were back among the students, but that wouldn't stop Torrington and the monsters for long, especially if they could control the Mist. I dragged Lou Ellen under one of the dining tables. A trailing snakeskin belt entered the hall, moving among the legs in the crowd.
'Can you do any more magic?' I'd never fought alongside a child of Hecate before. Hades, I'd never even met one.
'I don't really know how to control it,' she admitted. 'I don't even know how I made that Mistform work.'
'Great.' I rubbed my forehead, thinking hard. 'Okay, um, can you try and make something that looks like us?'
'Er, okay.' She thought for a moment, then found a pen and some paper in her pockets. She tore the paper in half, scribbled a quick drawing on each one, and tossed them out into the crowd. A second later, two girls, one blonde and one dark, went running for the exit.
'There!' Kitsune screeched. The three of them took off after Lou Ellen's Mistforms.
'Good job! That's bought us some time,' I said. 'What we need now is to—'
The ground shook. I straightened up in alarm and hit my head painfully on the underside of the table. Students and teachers started to scream.
'Evacuate!' shouted a tour guide.
'What's going on?' Lou Ellen asked.
'I don't know.' Had the monsters already figured out our trick? Were they trying to smoke us out?
The walls of the prison rattled like they were about to collapse. Trap or not, it didn't seem safe to stay inside. We joined the flood of people pushing for the emergency exits.
The sunny day outside had been replaced by gathering storm clouds. An icy wind howled through the prison courtyard. Teachers were herding students into year groups and doing frantic head-counts. I led Lou Ellen towards the ferry dock. If we could just get off the island …
What I wouldn't give for Percy and his sailing abilities right now.
The waters of the bay had been whipped into a frenzy of white hats, tossing the ferries from side to side. Although I couldn't see Kitsune, Lamia, or Torrington, I got the sense that we were being watched. A pair of flashing alarm lights on the dock looked so much like Lamia's evil green eyes that I couldn't help shivering under their glare.
As if this thought had summoned her, the monster herself appeared on the dock, blocking the way to the ferries. I stifled a scream as she towered over us with her snakeskin belt in her hands. There were empty eye sockets where her eyes should have been, making her look twice as alarming as before.
The alarm lights on the dock floated over. Lamia caught them and shoved her eyes back into place.
'I thought something was up with those Mistforms,' Lamia said. 'Good thing I can send my eyes around to keep a lookout.' She cracked her belt like a whip. Her hands had become talons, curved and sharp. Scales bubbled up on her skin, turning her into a grotesque, reptilian creature. Next to me, Lou Ellen gave a terrified whimper.
Lamia flicked her belt at us. I swung my knife in an attempt to intercept it, but the belt strap caught my wrist, twisting it painfully. My dagger clattered out of my hand.
Lamia's lips curled in triumph. Her tongue darted out between sharp, glistening teeth. With a yank of her belt, she dragged me to the ground.
Lou Ellen made a grab for my fallen dagger, but Lamia was too quick. She released me and swung her belt at Lou Ellen. The buckle struck her in the face and she fell back with a cry of pain. Almost at the same time, Lamia pounced. Her claws ripped my shirt. Her jaws opened wide and I nearly fainted at the stench of her rotten, sulphurous breath. Athena help me, it was nasty.
Then a bright orange cannonball slammed into us, knocking me out of Lamia's clutches. It unfurled into Kitsune, who had only bothered to swap her torso for human shape this time. Two tails sprouted from her lower half, whipping back and forth in agitation.
'No! The daughter of Athena is mine!'
I rolled away from them, reaching for my dagger. Before I could get to it, someone leapt onto me and pinned me to the ground. Torrington had arrived on the scene.
'Let me go!'
Lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a deafening crack of thunder. A pair of silver arrows whizzed through the air.
Kitsune howled. She became a bright orange blur again, darting away into the bushes. The arrows lodged into the pier with a dull thud.
'What in Hecate—' Lamia began.
Torrington gasped. Out of the fog, a glowing silver chariot descended, pulled by four golden deer—Artemis's chariot, bearing the goddess of the hunt and two passengers. The first was Thalia, a silver circlet perched in her hair and her new Hunter's bow drawn. The second made my breath catch in my throat. Dressed in full Greek armour, looking as regal and imposing as her replica statue in the Tennessee Parthenon, was my mother.
The chariot landed on the dock. Thalia leapt out at once, cursing and running after the retreating Kitsune.
Lamia faced Artemis with an expression of outrage. 'I am not a wild beast! You have no right!'
Artemis studied her with glittering eyes. 'I came in search of the fox,' she said. 'She is within my purview.'
'And my daughter invoked my protection,' Athena said. My eyes widened, noticing the golden necklace that dangled from her fingers. 'I received a sacrifice for it.'
'This isn't fair!' Lamia howled. 'Who protected my children when Hera slew them? I will have my revenge on all your children—'
Lamia leapt towards me. I jabbed Torrington hard with my elbow and pushed him into her path. They landed in a flail of limbs, cursing us all to Tartarus. My mother raised her hand. In it, the necklace was a glowing ball of light. She drew back her arm to throw …
It all happened very fast. One second, the necklace was flying towards Lamia and Torrington. The next, Kitsune leapt out of nowhere in fox form and intercepted it between her teeth. Torrington flung another of his cards into the air. It glowed with the same pinwheel symbol that had flashed over the helicopter net at Westover High. Torrington and Kitsune both vanished under it, leaving behind a single shredded, orange tail.
'You left me behind, you little brat!' Lamia screeched.
The burst of power my mother had infused in the necklace slammed into Lamia and she exploded. The ground shook harder than ever. Torrington's magic symbol hung in the air, fading slowly until only the three points of the pinwheel remained, the outline of a triangle.
A sinister darkness crept over the island. Screams emanated from the terrified mortals in the courtyard. Artemis and Athena were the only source of light left on the docks, both goddesses glowing like candles against the encroaching night.
'Mother,' I said shakily.
'We must go,' Athena said, looking worried. 'We have lost this island.'
'I don't understand,' Lou Ellen piped up. 'What's going on?'
'The Titans have claimed it,' Athena said gravely. 'Come, child.' She beckoned to Lou Ellen, who went to her in awe.
'Are you really a goddess? Like my mom?'
'Your mother is a Titan,' Athena corrected. 'And she and many of your siblings have turned against the gods.'
'But Lou Ellen hasn't!' I was suddenly afraid that my mother would see Lou Ellen as a danger, as she had Percy. 'We can bring her to camp. She's on our side!'
To my relief, Athena said, 'Indeed we shall.'
Thalia returned, still cursing a blue streak. We piled into Artemis's chariot and took off. As soon as the wheels lifted off the dock, Alcatraz Island dissolved into a sea of fog.
'What will happen to the mortals?' I asked. 'They're stuck there.'
'They will be fine once we leave,' Artemis said. She slung her bow across her back. 'They will probably pass it off as an earthquake.'
I turned to my mother. 'Did you really come for me?'
A rueful smile crossed Athena's lips. 'In a sense. The protection you invoked at my temple gave us an opening to enter. But we were too late.'
'She got away again,' Thalia fumed. 'I'm so sorry, my lady. I keep screwing this up.'
'Peace, Thalia,' Artemis said. 'None of us have met with much success.'
'We have suspected for some time that the Titans were active on Alcatraz Island,' Athena explained. 'But as Kronos was working through half-bloods, the ancient laws prevented our direct interference. We could not approach—not until you gave us this loophole. I used your prayer for protection to intercede.'
'But Kitsune got the necklace back. Does that mean … am I cursed again?'
'I do not know. The Necklace of Harmonia has certainly brought terrible misfortune on those who possessed it over the centuries. The wily fox took advantage of that. But my dear, if you had indeed fallen afoul of its curse, you should have died by now. Your ordeal on Mount Othrys, for instance—it should have killed you, as it did Zoë Nightshade.' She nodded respectfully to Artemis. 'Perhaps the goddess Harmonia could answer your question, but she has vanished from Olympus. I would deduce, however, that you are under a deeper protection. One that existed even before you prayed to me to lift the curse.'
It made no sense. Who had protected me, and how? Hardly anyone even knew I'd had the necklace, and those who did wouldn't have had the power to help. If my mother hadn't done it, then who?
Then I remembered that we still had a dire situation at hand. Putting aside the mystery of the necklace for the moment, I asked, 'What were the Titans doing on Alcatraz?'
Athena furrowed her brow. 'Raising an ancient creature. One that should have been locked away forever. When I went to check on the old prisoners from our previous war, I found many of our jailers missing.'
'Some have faded,' Artemis added sadly.
'Faded?'
'Monsters can go extinct,' Thalia said in a low voice. 'When they aren't needed any more … when people stop believing in them …'
'When the archetypes disappear,' I finished, remembering a conversation I'd had with Chiron before. Chiron was three thousand years old, but his immortality was contingent on his purpose—to train young heroes.
The weight of what Kronos had in mind for his war suddenly felt like a rock around my neck. He had to be planning to destroy every archetype that the gods stood for—wisdom, love, family … there was no other way to truly kill an immortal.
'We believe one of the jailers still exists, but we are struggling to find him,' Athena said. 'The last Hekatonkheire.'
'Do you think he's in Alcatraz?'
'Maybe,' Artemis said. 'But we can no longer go there. I think what happened when we arrived made it clear.'
'Okay, this is really confusing,' Lou Ellen said. She'd been silent for so long, I'd almost forgotten she was with us.
It took a while to explain to Lou Ellen about the gods and the war we were preparing for. I told her about camp and how we could take care of her there. Thalia explained about the Hunters and invited her to sign on. Lou Ellen considered it for a while, then said, 'Can I go to this camp place instead?'
Artemis sighed. 'Of course.'
She tugged lightly on the reins and her deer leapt into action. An impossibly short time later, we were emerging into a familiar clearing in the woods bordering camp.
Lou Ellen and I climbed out of the chariot. Thalia hopped out with us and hugged me. 'Say hi to Percy and Grover for me!'
Athena inclined her head. 'Take care, my daughter. I will not always be able to protect you.'
Her words made me think of my dad and his promise to keep me safe. I winced. Once again, I'd run off to camp without a word, even though this time it hadn't been intentional.
'I shouldn't have come,' I said. 'My dad—'
'Hm.' Artemis looked towards the sky. The sun was just beginning to set, casting long shadows on the trees. 'If you can wait until dawn, I can arrange a lift home for you.'
'You can? I mean, thank you!'
Thalia laughed. 'If it's who I think it is, don't thank her too soon.'
'Why? Who is it?'
Artemis exchanged a look of amusem*nt with Athena. 'My brother, Apollo.'
